Official Culture in America: Natural State of Psychopathy?

Spot on analysis:

Official Culture in America:A Natural State of Psychopathy?
Laura Knight-Jadczyk

July 30, 2003: KAH - The subject of the extremely narrow point of view of most Americans as opposed to the majority of other peoples in the world came up in a conversation the other day. The people having the conversation were, as it happens, mostly American. One of them commented that Americans had been "programmed" to their point of view by mass media propaganda for a very long time and that it was simply a very normal part of American life and basically, always had been. She concluded, "Whoever denies it is either ignorant or has an agenda."

That may be so. It may be true that the "pied pipers" of denial have an agenda. But what, then, does one say or do about the ignorance of the vast majority of Americans? Why and how is it that the trap of Fascism is closing on them before their very eyes and no matter how many voices - the number is increasing every day - are raised to point out this danger, they simply do not seem to get it?
The conversation continued with a comment from another individual suggesting that one must take into account how effective the "official culture" actually is in the US. It isn't just a question of ignorance, but a question of the long-term thoroughness of the propagandizing that began in the early days of the last century. It was proposed that this propaganda is so complete that not only are most people in the US ignorant of what is taking place on the US political scene, and in the world as a direct result of US policy, they are ignorant of the fact that they are ignorant. They have been inculcated with the view that their view is the only "right" one" and, consequently, they really "don't know any better". In short: "What do you do if you don't know that you don't know something?"

Well, the thing is, at some point in time, no matter how thorough the programming has been, most people will eventually end up coming across some bit or piece of information that isn't going to quite "jibe" with the "official culture;" it isn't going to "fit" in with their view of reality, with what they have been taught, and it is usually just a little bit uncomfortable when this happens. Or it ought to be.

My question is, why is complete denial, even aggressive behavior in some instances, the reaction of some when the objective facts of reality are pointed out to them, while there are others who react with an increased sense of curiosity, an increased desire for additional information?

Why do some shun knowledge and others crave it?

Why do some resist the programming, and others welcome it?

It is as though with some people - those who most avidly embrace the "we are right" view - have minds that are closed from the very get-go, and they are entirely incapable of opening them, even just a crack. There is no curiosity in them. There are no questions in their minds. There are no "what ifs?" or "maybes".

It seems to me that the propaganda of the Official Culture then, while quite effective, may not be the sole reason why so many Americans are apathetic when it comes to what their government is doing, both in the US and abroad. It seems as though there may be some distinct differences in human beings at a very basic level that needs to be considered here.

In my opinion, (KAH), all of us who were raised in the US have been duped via this Official Culture mind control imposed through the educational system and the mass media. But there are some of us who seem to have the ability to question, to wonder, to open our minds to other possibilities - even if they seem far-fetched. And invariably, this opening of the mind to other views has been enriching and rewarding on many levels, not the least of which is a humanitarian view of all peoples and cultures.

Is being able to open your mind and ask questions just a matter of "courage?" Is a closed mind simply evidence of being a coward? Is resistance to the "official culture" a consequence of a fundamental "rebellious nature" and are those who "go along with the crowd" better "team players," even if the team is on the moral low-road?

Is the difference one that exists between people who are willing to face the "terror of the situation" and those who simply cannot live in the state of tension produced by having to make moral decisions themselves?

Or, is there something deeper here? If so, what is it? And whatever it is, why is it so "active" in the present day and time? What is the "fog" that surrounds America and the minds of its people?
http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/official_culture.htm

I'd say roughly ten years ago. Have not had cable TV in about 5-6 years because it's too addicting. I don't watch any mainstream news channel - I only turn to the internet for news and information. I now have Google Reader to filter through the news sources I trust.

I watch some shows here and there. Local news in the morning being the biggest exception, and sometimes I'll watch some sports, but that's it really. I have to admit I'm about to make a big exception coming in January -- will be going over to a friend's house for the final Battlestar Galactica series. But overall, the TV for me is rarely on and some times I'll go weeks without ever watching a thing.

Anyways, I believe my self-imposed media blockout has made a difference in my perceptions of news and current events.

have. I did watch certain select shows (X files, Sopranos, Dexter) but the hours I spend on TV are on the order of 2 or 3 hours a WEEK. I just don't find much of it compelling or interesting or informative at all. It truly is a vast wasteland. I wouldn't even have a TV if Mr. Nay wasn't so addicted.

Not only has our nedia blockout made a difference in our perceptions, it has most likely made a difference in our brains themselves.

Everyone should read "Four Arguments against Television" by Jerry Mander to expand their knowledge of exactly why TV is having the effect on the populace that it is visibly having. It's all in that book, and that book is 30 years old. Jerry Mander was an old ad guy, and he knows exactly how TV works on the mind.

Nor is it tested on the NCLB mandate. But on Piaget's cognitive scale that all teachers learn about, it is the KEY cognitive step that takes us into adulthood. At about age 11, kids become capable of entering the formal operational stage - but it doesn't happen in a vacuum. Some people go into adulthood without moving forward from the concrete operation stage.

If authoritarianism is taught in the home (because I said so!), and in the schools (teach to and test from the text), and in church (Obey the word of God), then where's the institution that reinforces critical thinking? And without that reinforcement (except for many among a kid's peer group), how will formal operations develop? I was attracted to teaching Middle education because it is the stage where they become capable of critical thought, and I'm sure that much of the frustrations involved with pre-adolecence (for the kids and the adults) stem from the fact that they ARE cognitively capable of critical thought, but have no outlet for it outside their peer group - and ZERO institutional reinforecment of it. So they have the urge and ability for it, but no FORMAL operation.

So they spend their pre-adolesence and much of their adolesence in a power stuggle with the institutions, rebel and insulate themselves among their peer group (the lucky ones do). This behavior is UNIQUELY AMERICAN. In cross-cultural studies, no other pre-adolescent group has the same common behavior patterns to the extent of American students.

It's not psychological (at first), it's developmental. Most of us never get beyond the 10-year-old mentality. We may be able to store more information into adulthood, but we process it the same way.

In raising our daughter, we maintain the anarchist ideal in that we encourage her to always place the burden of proof on authority, including us. Although there are clearly examples within the parent/child structure where coercion is acceptable, if not inevitable, we hope it will benefit her in the long run in having been raised in an open environment. No different in school...every Fri I go to her school and we share lunch. Upon arriving yesterday an assistant principal was in her room berating the children over their apparent lack of enthusiasm for watching a video, and really whipping big heap shame and guilt on them, saying that their teacher and their parents are soooooo disappointed in them, etc. After a bit when we sit down to eat, I told my daughter and her friend that I certainly was not disappointed in them because they didn't behave like little automatons ... now my daughter is accustomed to such views, as I've explained how such institutions, although providing some good, do great harm to young minds by conditioning them toward irrational attitudes of submission to authority. But I could see by gaging her friend that such thinking was quite alien to her - and not that I think she has 'bad' parents, of course not. But the lack of awareness of the bigger scheme of things explains many hows and whys of the world people create, often through uncritical thinking, and inaction.

In American society we're taught to obey, and the indoctrination is stronger than any fascist or totalitarian state could impose. Why are indoctrinated views stronger in the U.S.? Because we're made to believe that we have all this amazing freedom - free to make our own choices! free to decide what we do or don't like! free to decide who we'll vote for! -- yet all along there's this massive mind control telling us exactly where the boundaries are: Democrat vs Republican for example, where anything outside that is unacceptable. 911 - was it incompetence, or were we simply caught off-guard? (The unacceptable view, of course, being that maybe someone in the Cheney/Bush admin let it happen on purpose). Iraq - was it a mistake to try and spread freedom where some aren't ready for it? Or was it a mistake because of intelligence failures? (The unacceptable, unspoken view being that maybe, just maybe we had a plan to go after control of Iraqi oil all along). The examples are endless. On issue after issue there are certain boundaries that you just don't step beyond, or else you find yourself vilified, marginalized, and demonized.

Anyway that's a bit of a tangent from your post but overall I think it's great to teach children to question the power held by any authority -- it's so different from what we're taught in the U.S. Obey, consume, don't ask questions.

to "produce" Americans who THINK, do they??!
Seriously!
Thinking leads to QUESTIONING, which leads to DEMANDING ANSWERS, which leads to becoming INVOLVED, .......

P.S. I was always the kid, even in elementary school, who questioned and challenged teachers and who then became one, so I'm not referring to my erstwhile colleagues; I refer to Administrators.

Which prompted me to quit high school and get a better education ...and not in college either.

"We are actively discouraged from thinking constructively and questioningly, and once an individual has accepted the numb acquiescence so encouraged, an insidiously vicious circle has successfully been promoted. Another rather convenient result of such a situation is that people who don't think constructively and questioningly don't even realize it."
~ Mike Timothy, The Anti-Intellectual Ethic

good post btw and I like the quote -- some world leaders immediately came to mind when I read that ;)

You got it. It's the most astonishingly effective thought control medium ever.

Naturally this type of debate makes some defensive, defiant, even downright hostile in their denial of how the public mind has been/is shaped through the propaganda effort of the elite. It's far more comfortable, and especially macho, to instead prefer to believe that one's choices are free from mass coercion and ignorance. But that's the point of brainwashing: those afflicted do not realize it.

Official Culture in America: Natural State of Psychopathy?

Just your 'theory' seems ludicrous. Sort of... ;)

Americans are individuals but when push comes to shove, we are a team!

We all seem to agree that "bush" is an idiot. Why that didn't happen sooner?

I don't know why. :shrug:

Maybe he's been playing Americans for fools? I'd agree to that! I feel really bad
for my fellow Americans that got duped but we still love you all!! :loveya:

OK?

That is the obvious response. If you were a rightist, you'd deem the analysis as "ludicrous" by way of calling me "crazy" and "un American." It just depends on how the prevailing Establishment ideologies warp the individual. Also, any grouping of people who come under threat of another will, in part, ban together in defense. That has nothing to do with "America" per se. And it's not about how many people think Bush is a puppet-idiot-fountainhead for a fascist movement, it's about those scores of millions who have been conditioned into not facing the true reality of what they're up against.

They have failed America...and they know it.

:cry:

More war. More housing trouble. More job losses.

I don't believe for a second that the Johnny-Come-Lately's understand the Fascist elements to this Administration.

The people who think the world is divided into two kinds of people, and those who do not.

The author of that seems to be engaging in more of a self-appreciation massage for his own "curiosity" than anything else. More helpful is how we spark critical thinking even in the so-called hopeless.

Attempting to accuse her of oversimplification sidesteps the obvious: first we as a country need to understand that there is a percentage of the populace - a clear majority in my estimation - that are completely ignorant regarding matters of how the world, and how it shapes and impacts the daily round of life. Want to "spark critical thinking?" The people need to reclaim the airwaves so a national debate on such issues can begin.

Americans, particularly males, are taught---and shown; e.g., IRAQ---that aggression is the proper masculine response.

We are a nation of thugs, not scholars, from the top down.

average intelligence or below. Subjects are taught to them by rote, and only the questions that will be on the standardized tests they have to pass for the school system and the teachers to get a "passing grade", and the very little federal $$$ that goes with them, are covered. So, in essense, unless your kid is considered "above average" intellectually, he or she is only learning what the government says is important. THIS government. The room for teaching in a way that promotes "critical thought" cannot be accomplished on these kids, and the rigidity that comes with that way of thinking makes them good little "do-bees", and we all know those make the best Republicans.

Kids who are POOR and/or of color and not intellectually gifted, who are taught this way, will make great cannon fodder for the Reublicans' endless wars. They are being GROOMED for that. Why bother to educate 'em correctly if they're just gonna die anyway? Better the money saved should go to the richest 1% in tax breaks, so they can keep THEIR intellectually average kids in private schools and on to colleges that only want a HUGE donation in return for their admittance. Those kids will grow up to be PRESIDENT.

Just saying.

TC

my parents and/or teachers to be correct 100 percent of the time. As a matter of fact, they could be downright wrong. And I had to learn fast to gather my own facts and to make up my own mind rather than trust the truth offered by others.

This was between the ages of 2 and 3 years.

Why should I then believe administrators, elected officials, "the government", and the media? They all have their reasons to lie, obfusgate, manipulate the facts, use disception, etc.

Once you've had your first moral indignation at being lied to by people or authorities you're supposed to trust, you don't ever give them your trust.

"You're either with us or against us."

It discourages, no, it disparages critical thinking.

Organized religion is the official culture in the United States, the culture that guided people to Bush/Cheney rallies.

Here's an interesting link about moral development.

http://members.shaw.ca/positivedisintegration/wilber.htm

"Dabrowski presents a theory of personality development observing that most people live their lives guided by their biological impulses (generally self-interest) and/or by uncritical adherence to social convention. He called these features the first and second factors. Dabrowski also described a group of people who display an individualized developmental pathway. These people break away from an automatic, socialized view of life (what Dabrowski described as "negative adjustment") to develop an individualized, conscious and critically evaluated value structure ("positive adjustment"). This hierarchy of values comes to act as a benchmark by which all things are seen and that directs behaviour. Advanced development is seen in people who possess strong developmental potential. Developmental potential represents a constellation of genetic features, expressed and mediated through environmental interaction, that consist of three major aspects: overexcitability (OE), specific abilities and talents, and a strong drive toward autonomous growth, a feature Dabrowski called the third factor."

American culture is so directed towards staying at level one that even if you are genetically predisposed to development, it's likely that you won't get the nurturing needed to bring that genetic potential out. We're kept so ignorant that unless you're really lucky and get the right nurturing and/or are really intrinsically motivated to learn, you're not going to have access to the information that you need to disrupt your stage one harmony and get you started on development.

It's not the fault of the teachers at all. They're doing the best they can with a broken system. It's the fault of the edudcational system and the economic system and basically our entire culture and way of doing things.

Okay, like, I used to work at Arby's. Cutting was the only way I could make it through a shift without putting my own head on the slicer and my husband eventually let me quit because he could tell I was close to a complete psychotic break.

You don't know your schedule from week to week. Sometimes you leave at one thirty at night and have to be back at seven the next morning. Sometimes you work eleven days in a row without a day off. You have to be there for two years before getting a week of vacation and you have to bring a doctor's note if you call out sick. Even the managers make so little that one of my managers got evicted from her apartment and had to live in a cheap hotel, paying week to week. Another coworker was obviously intellectually gifted. He'd grown up in hotels with his drug addict mother and moved in with friends when he turned 18. He quit on me to go work at the Cinnabon's in the airport and I cried for a week.

It kills your soul. There is no time or room in your life for learning about other cultures or other groups and even if you wanted to, education and museums and books and all that cost more than you can afford. Yes, there are libraries, but their funds are always being cut and generally they're only open while you're at work or asleep. The company owns you and you are just an automaton doing their bidding. You can't have a life of your own in any manner, especially not intellectual.

It's been almost three years since I walked out of there for the last time and I still feel the effects of it.

And I'm one of the lucky ones. I came with the genetic potential for profound intellectual giftedness and had the nurturing to bring it out, even if we didn't have the money for years of education and a doctorate from an elite school. Imagine what it's like for someone who didn't come equipped with highly efficient mental machinery and didn't have any books around growing up and whose parents didn't value knowledge and questioning of authority.

The fog you mention is ignorance. And as we all know, ignorance is the most fertile soil for hatred and selfishness.

Like I said to my husband last night, it's a reversing of the Enlightenment. We are sliding back down towards the Dark Ages, when only monks and nobles could read and write and the peasants didn't know anything and so came up with demons and magic to explain their world. Maybe that explains the resurgence of hardcore fundamentalist religion.

Basically, we're born into a culture of ignorance and even if you are naturally bright and curious everything is designed to keep you ignorant. Especially if you're not rich.

Yay for feudalism!